Vietnam loosens rice controls to reverse export decline
HANOI - Vietnam plans to loosen its controls on rice exports in an effort to reverse declining shipments, an official said
Thursday.
The country, the world's second-largest rice exporter after Thailand, has targeted 4 million tons of rice exports this year, up
from 3.5 million tons last year, the official from the Ministry of Trade said.
The government plans to boost exports by allowing trading companies to sell rice without having to apply for quotas from the
government, he said.
However, conditions will remain difficult for Vietnamese rice exporters because total world demand is expected to remain the
same as last year's 24 million tons, he said.
Vietnam exported 4.5 million tons of rice in 1999, according to official figures. Last year it earned $668 million from rice
exports.
While the volume of Vietnam's rice exports fell 22% last year, its earnings dropped by a wider 35%, because of lower world
rice prices.
The Vietnamese government has targeted production of 31.5 million tons of paddy rice this year, down from 32.6 million tons
produced last year, because of heavy flooding in the Mekong delta, the country's main rice-growing region.
The official said rice has now been planted in most cultivated areas in the southern Mekong delta, which suffered the worst
flooding in 50 years late last year.
The country can produce 4 million tons of rice for export, but the problem is finding markets for this volume, he said.
Associated Press - February 1st, 2001.
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